University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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18 THE REDWOOD tory, if she cannot give a complete an- swer to this question, tells us that hith- erto civilized society has rested on reli- gion, and that free government has prospered best among religious peoples. . . . Yet America seems as unlike- ly to drift from her ancient moorings as any country of the Old World. . . Religion and conscience have been a constantly active force in the American commonwealth. . . . not indeed strong enough to avert many moral and political evils, yet at the worst times inspiring a minority with a courage and ardor by which moral and politi- cal evils have been held at bay, and in the long run generally overcome. Republics Live by Virtue. It is an old saying that monarchies live by honor and republics by virtue. The more democratic republics become, the more the masses grow conscious of their own power not only by patriot- ism, but by reverence and self-control, and the more essential to their well- being are those sources whence rever- ence and self-control flow. Just one concluding thought. Are those high things we have been talking of realities, or are they shadows? Are those conceptions of a higher law, sov- ereign right, eternal justice, and human destiny beyond the state — are all these hollow superstition or are they solid truth? Are those great principles which are the soul of your educational system and, by such a fine coincidence, at the same time the very gospel for which this nation and its allies are en- during their bitter passion today, — are all these but hallucinations of a world distraught with grief and looking for comfort from some external source be- cause there is no comfort here? Are all these but ethereal echoes, from the cold and silent stars, of humanity ' s un- ceasing wail against the pain and sor- row, the disappointment and despair of this abandoned sphere? World ' s Faith in Law a Spiritual Force In its slow but sure course this war is moving on to a decision of this tre- mendous three-fold proposition, which will thenceforth and forever stand as a settled and accepted truth of the hu- man race and of human affairs, and stamped with a finality that nothing less than such a conflict could fasten on it : first, that the race at large has an inborn faith in a law that is higher than man can make or the state repeal ; second, that this faith in that higher law has such native vitality and inher- ent vigor that a preponderance of the race will rise and rally against any gross and fundamental violation of its principles, and will make the sacrifice of every earthly treasure and of life itself to vindicate its sanctity; and third, and chiefly, that this faith, in- born and vigorous, is a spiritual force mightier than all the material forces that can be combined against it; that the powers of light are stronger than the powers of darkness. That is the compensating end to which our firm and steadfast defense against this war of conquest is leading

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THE REDWOOD 17 to the theory — all too plain from fa- miliar experience — that it is the natur- al tendency of power, in every phase in which it is developed and in every de- partment in which it is employed, to run to the limit of excesses; that it fails to provide spontaneously its cor- responding virtue of restraint ; and that it is imperative therefore to satur- ate the process of education throughout with those great moral principles that give vitality to that essential quality. All these considerations have pecu- liar application to a democracy, where every man is a sovereign and the col- lective individuals rule. For, as Tocqueville says: The weakness of a democracy is that, unless guarded, it merges in despotism. And Wendell Phillips: Despotism looks down into the poor man ' s cradle, and knows it can crush resistance and curb ill-will. Democracy sees the ballot in that baby- hand; and selfishness bids her put in- tegrity on one side of those baby foot- steps and intelligence on the other, lest her own hearth be in peril. That is the message with which this convention answers this questioning hour. That is the patriotic service with which it shows cause to its fellow-citi- zens on this dark and anxious day. Is it genuine service? Or could it easily be dispensed with? James Bryce on the American Commonwealth. The best study that has been made of our institutions, their origin, their op- erations, and the influences that have affected them for good or evil, is The American Commonwealth by James Bryce. Let me read, without com- ment, a few observations from that standard authority along this line : No one is so thoughtless as not to sometimes ask himself what would be- fall mankind if the solid fabric of be- lief on which their morality has hith- erto rested, or at least been deemed by them to rest, were suddenly to break up. . . Morality with religion for its sanction has hitherto been the basis of social polity, except under military despotism; would morality be so far weakened as to make social polity un- stable? and if so, would a reign of vio- lence return? In Europe this question does not seem urgent, because in Eu- rope the physical force of armed men which maintains order is usually con- spicuous, and because obedience to au- thority is everywhere in Europe matter of ancient habit. . . . But in Am- erica the whole system of government seems to rest not on armed force, but on the will of the numerical majority, a majority most of whom might well think that its overthrow would be for them a gain . . . Suppose that all these men ceased to believe that there was any power above them, any future before them, anything in heaven or earth but what their senses told them of . . . would the moral code stand unshaken, and with it the rever- ence for law, the sense of duty towards the community, and even towards the generations yet to come, . . . His-

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THE REDWOOD 19 the world, to prove decisively, with all the finality of a demonstrated, scienti- fic fact of human life, the existence, the vigor, the invincibility of that faith and force ; to fix that primacy, estab- lish that supremacy, and settle that or- der of precedence forever as an axiom of the race. That is the adequate good that we have injected into this evil thing and that rescues the human fam- ily from the grave impeachment of be- ing engaged in a suicidal conflict. That is the all-sufficient outcome which forbids the thought that the higher law and its boasted principles are undermined by such conditions. There is not despair for the race in this agonizing conflict that was forced upon it ; there is faith ; there is glory ; there is vindication. That is the conception of this war that makes us prouder than ever of old human nature. That is the conception of this war that makes the khaki uni- form the livery of God and our sons and brothers soldiers of the Lord. That is the conception of this war that makes it inconceivable that Providence should be indifferent to the outcome. That is the conception of this war that makes us sure that, if the hour needs it, over the battlements of heaven will tumble the thunderbolts of God to put down this rebellion against His supre- macy. The Monument at the Marne. In another day — not distant we hope — some second Michael Angelo will journey over the hushed and abandoned battlefield of Belgium , Italy and France, to catch an inspiration for a monument to express the highest mean- ing of the conflict, and to find a spot at which to place it in commemoration of the victory. Footsore and weary he will make his way over that long and winding region that yesterday was studded with the classic creations of the genius of the race and today is a hideous and unbroken waste. He will brood over the ruins of temples of wor- ship that inspired art had fashioned and love of God had reared. He will sit and muse among the broken walls and battered roofs and empty shelves and deserted corridors of temples of learning that were as priceless in their splendid beauty as in the treasured lore that came in rare and wonderful books and went forth in rare and wonderful men. He will walk with a heavy hoart over fields that once were rich aud glad with all the fruits of bounteous nature and industrious man, but that now are barren of a living leaf. He will gaze with grief unutterable upon the crumbled heaps of villages where all was peace, contentment, love and home. He will pick his way through the obliterated streets of mangled ci- ties which centuries had reai ' ed as rich and gorgeous monuments to proud and thrifty peoples. His heart will sink amid the wilderness of graves that converted a continent into a city of the dead. His soul will be stirred to a tern-